Two days and two levels, so far, Gordo mused as he walked along, not so great a result. I need to find and spend more time around other players, was his decision, that way I will gain access to their quests and tasks, access to gaining experience quicker. He was annoyed with himself, for he knew that his former gaming experience should give him some sort of an advantage, but this game was so different that he was unable to work out where, or how, that experience could be applied. Fighting was just about the same in all games, previous experience there didn’t really count, for you have to gain it anew each time. Experience was only good when applied to the game it is gained from, he realized in horror. Dawnlands, the original, was nothing at all like this much improved version of it, with everything being new, differently designed and applied. He no longer could consider himself a veteran player, but just another noobie, learning everything from scratch, regaining his experience, and hopefully regaining his pre-eminent position at the top. He had no shortcuts to advancement, it was going to be one long, long grind.

He then realized he did have an advantage, one that he will have to use to its fullest if he was to have any chance at all. Time was his advantage, for he could, and would, stay in this game twenty four hours a day, three hundred and sixty five days of the year, while all other players, to his knowledge, only could spend a few hours per day in game. This cheered him up, knowing that everything wasn’t quite as bad as it could have been.

Thinking of other players made him remember Garal and Shan, the two who had helped him at the graveyard and their offer to him of meeting up at The Broken Sword. They had been friendly enough, and seemed to be the kind he should try to hook up with, or at least see if they were open to him tagging along with them for a while. A couple of day doing this should hopefully increase his levels a bit. He also had those two attribute points to distribute, something he would have to consider carefully before he used them.

It wasn’t hard to find the wide road towards the center of the city and he walked along it, keeping to one side to avoid the merchants and traders that hurried about, as well as the occasional player, who everybody seemed to step out of the way for. Foot traffic became thicker the closer he got to the center, and player numbers escalated rapidly. You could tell a player from an NPC, mainly due to their equipment, as well as their total disinterest in anything that wasn’t connected to their current tasks or quests, it was like most of them just rushed about without taking time to appreciate the reality around them. More pity to them, for he had always taken the time to appreciate good game design.

Entering the plaza at the heart of the city, was an experience in itself, for this one was of a proportion he had never seen before. The central section of the plaza was a square of short grass of which he estimated to be about an acre in size, dotted with the occasional tree. Surrounding the grassed area was a further flag stoned area, doubling the dimensions of the grass section. This paved area was full of trolleys and carts of all nature, some being food vendors, the others comprised of merchants selling a variety of goods. Pausing before entering the meandering streams of players and NPCs who filled this area, weaving aimlessly about, and around, each other in the gathering gloom of the setting sun, he took a look around himself.

To Gordo’s left, on the corner of the street entering the plaza, stood a three story building painted a cheerful green. Hanging above the door was a shingle illustrated with a cabbage. In puzzlement, he scratched his head, not because he knew that shingles informed you what the building was, but because he had no idea what a cabbage represented. He needed to get closer to also see what was written on the shingle for in the falling darkness he couldn’t read the words from this distance. Shrugging, he walked over towards it.

The gold lettering of the sign slowly became visible the closer he came to the building until he could just make it out. Allaway the Greengrocer, purveyor of fine produce, proclaimed the board grandiosely, making him chuckle slightly in amusement. The chuckle stopped as his eyes noticed the board hanging in front of the building adjoining the greengrocers. It showed the image of a sword, broken in half and overlaying each other, creating the shape of an X. The name below this confirmed his original thought upon seeing it. He had reached his destination, for this was the Broken Sword Tavern.

Like the grocers, it was a three story building constructed of blackened timber beams and what he assumed was whitewashed wattle and daub , reminding him greatly of those old English buildings he had seen in a story once about William Shakespeare. The large windows along the front of the building were made up of small panes of bottle eye glass, distorting everything in such a manner that nothing could be discerned within except for shadow movement across the panes and flickering but contorted torchlight. Looking up, he could barely make out the eaves of the building as they poked out from the wall above, but just enough to allow Gordo to see it was comprised of a thick thatch, again in the style of those Tudor houses. Gordo smiled, this is what a tavern should look like, he thought, admiring the architectural design before him, while hoping the interior was equally as realistic.

He was not disappointed on entering though the door, instead he was awestruck in amazement, as the interior seemed to be about three times the size that the exterior promised. He just had to check it out again so he walked back outside and entered a second time, only to find that his initial sight was correct, the inside was far bigger than the outside.

He found himself at the top of a small set of stairs leading down into the main room, which allowed him to see right across the room without his sight being obstructed. Many people filled the room, occupying the wooden tables and benches that sat on the straw and dirt floor beneath them. The walls were of similar construction to the outside, whitewashed walls supported by blackened timbers, while wagon wheels hung from the roof, their rims lined with enough candles to illuminate the room below. On the opposite side of the room he could see the main bar, from which barmaids could be seen moving back and forth, delivering drinks and food to the patrons, the aroma of stale beer and roasting meat filling the air. Smoke filled the air, stinging his eyes and bringing tears to them. He felt he had fallen in love with this place on first sight, for this tavern was just too good to be true. As he stood there, appreciating the view, he heard someone calling out his name.

“Hey, Gordo.”

He looked about the room to see who was calling his name, finally catching the movement of someone in the crowd waving a hand to gain his attention from against the far wall to his left. Concentrating in the dim and smoky atmosphere that occupied the tavern, he made out the shape of the elf that he knew, and actually had been seeking, for it was Shan, and there next to him, almost hidden in the crowd, was Garal, the dwarf.

Giving a quick wave back, Gordo walked down the stairs and worked his way through the crowd, many of them giving him disgusted looks due to his appearance, along with an occasional shove to get him out of their presence. He could hear many of them commenting about him once he had passed, with such terms as ‘frigging noob’ and ‘what the fuck’ common among them. About half way across the room, he accidentally bumped the elbow of one of the players, causing him to spill the drink he was holding. The man spun around in anger and Gordo took a step backwards as recognition struck him, for it was a familiar face that he saw, one belonging to Melbert, the player who had killed him earlier. Holding his hands up in front of him in a peace gesture, Gordo tried to calm the enraged player down. “Sorry, Melbert, it was an accident.” and took a further step backwards.

Melbert snarled, turning his features into something terrible to behold, and reached for the dagger at his waist. As his hand gripped the hilt, a light of recognition showed in his eyes, and he paused, looking at Gordo. “Well, if it isn’t the little piggy I slaughtered today.” He spat out, then continued. ”I see you didn’t learn your lesson, piggy, you have again forgotten what my name is. This time I think I will carve it into your flesh before I slice your throat.” He pulled the dagger out and stepped towards Gordo, the room about them slowly becoming silent as everyone stooped to see what was happening.

From the crowd a hand emerged and wrapped itself around Melberts hand that held the dagger, halting Melberts approach. “Hold it right there, Melbert. You know the rules, no fighting inside the tavern.” A familiar voice spoke, and Garal stepped out of the crowd, his hand still gripping Melberts. “We all saw what happened, and know it was an unintentional accident, Gordo didn’t mean to jog you elbow and you did back into his path after all. Why don’t you let me buy you a new drink and forget about it.” Garal spoke low but in a purposeful manner, indicating that this situation was over and Melbert had better accept it.

Melbert, whose gaze had switched to Garal when the dwarf had grabbed him, snarled again and pulled his hand free of the grip upon it, then carefully sheathed the dagger. “Keep your drink, dwarf, I don’t accept anything from midgets, and that includes being interrupted in teaching someone a few manners. You will get yours one of these days.” He switched his glare to Gordo. “As your you, piggy,you are lucky I am leaving this city tonight, but be very wary, for one day soon I will be returning to this city to repay some debts.” His gaze swept across the room, passing across all of the patrons who had surrounded them by this time. “Debts which many of you in here owe me.” He flung the cape he was wearing dramatically over one shoulder and stormed off up the stairs of the tavern, disappearing into the darkness outside.

Many of the players laughed at this display, but a few returned to their tables and drinks thoughtfully, their eyes constantly straying back to the door that Melbert had departed through. These ones obviously knew him, and took his threats seriously. A meaty hand clapped Gordo on one shoulder, causing him to stagger forward a few steps. “Ah, don’t worry, Gordo, that man is nothing but hot air, his farts are less toxic than his speech.” Gordo looked around to find Garal at his side. “Am I right, fellahs ?” Many affirmatives to his words came from the surrounding players. “If he leaves the city, then good riddance to him, we will all be better off without his presence tainting the game about us. He’s been nothing but trouble since he arrived. What else can you expect from a stinking necromancer.” He led Gordo to the table that was still occupied by Shan.

As he sat down with them, Shan looked him over. “I see you have decided to stick with this character, then?”

Gordo grinned at him. “Yes, it growing on me. I have even managed to gain a little experience since I saw you, I’m level two now.” The elf just shook his head.

“So, what class are you, then, Gordo. I can’t see any mention of what your class is when I inspect you ?” the elf replied.

“I haven’t decided which class I want to follow at this point, I have decided to check everything out before I choose.”

The elf and the dwarf looked at each other, confusion on their faces. “Um.. what do you mean you haven’t decided on a class, you have to choose one when you create your character, not later. If you don’t choose a class then you can’t join the game.” spoke Garal, bafflement clear in his question.

Gordo have him a look of confusion of his own. “What ? Surely that’s not the case, I must have an option in my settings to choose my class, and I have not yet decided which class interests me yet, so that means I can play before I choose it… doesn’t it ?” The more he talked, the more confused he became, then quickly opened his profile page and searched it. Yes, it stated his class as unavailable, but couldn’t find any options to choose a class, then changed to the settings page and did another search. Finally he sat back and looked at the other two. “No, I don’t have an option to choose any character classes, it only informs me its inavailable. What the hell’s going on ?”

“I think you had better contact support about this, Gordo. Maybe that’s why your character is so crappy, maybe it’s a game bug and you need to create a new one ?” Shan patted him on one shoulder reassuringly as he spoke, and Gordo nodded in agreement as he composed a note and sent it to the admins.

Dear Admins

I think there may be a problem with my character, for it currently is showing my class as being unavailable. I can not find any option in settings or on my profile page to choose a class. Is this an error with the experimental system I am using. Could you please look into this and let me know if I have to restart with a new character.

Thanks

Gordon Rammidge

He sat back after sending it and looked at the others. “I think I will just wait here for a reply. No use carrying on if all this character is going to do is be wiped.” He raised one hand to gain the attention of a servant. “Let’s have a drink while I wait.”